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It never ceases to astonish me that even while ostensibly ‘rebranding’, businesses and organizations still get caught up in generalized branding and marketing efforts.

Far too often I meet with companies who have thrown good money after bad trying to differentiate, only to do nothing of the sort. A new identity, new advertising, new website, social media – they’re all just tools in the communications toolbox: some useful, some not, for that particular business. And none will be as effective as they should without a strong, sustainable brand – one that really knows and understands what it is, what it stands for, genuinely cares about what its audiences care about, knows who those audiences are – really, genuinely understands their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, can truly differentiate, and can live up to their promises for the long-term.

Like great buildings that stand the test of time, successful brands are built on a solid foundation and a clear vision of what that will look like and how it will function down the road. Whether built in stages or all at once is irrelevant – as long as those things are front-of-mind, managed, and driving all marketing and communication decisions. Too often they’re not.

A little tirade born of a recent experience

I admit to being on a bit of a tirade on this topic following onboarding a new client very recently – a strong, ethical company trying to make a difference in an industry with some negative perceptions. They’ve done much to be proud of – without recognizing those connections as their true differentiator. None of them are linked to their core business, and the ‘pros’ guiding them thus far haven’t made that obvious connection either.

The client shared with me two (expensive) corporate marketing and branding documents created recently by a competitive firm. They looked and sounded impressive, redefining vision and mission, proposing a strategy, and talking about brand. Yet within a few brief paragraphs, it was evident that there was no real understanding of brand or differentiation – certainly not of this client. Three ‘rebrands’ and three un-trademark-able logos later, the analysis and recommendations were just advocating a seen-it-before rebrand of a different kind. The documents missed the boat and the client would have spent much of its hard-earned profits with a new look and direction, but the same old results. We’re starting over, but it’s frustrating for me on behalf of my client, whose words to me were, “I wish we’d spoken two years ago.”

‘Been done’, seen-it-before branding/marketing efforts are, in a large part, constructs of professional toolmakers

Designers, copywriters, content writers, digital marketing specialists, suits, web developers, and PR folks may be great at what they do, but that’s not branding. They work in silos, independently developing their tool(s), each trying to put their unique mark on their work (with or without outsourced elements) – all without cohesive brand and communication strategies stemming from them. Companies are easily led astray by slick presentations and expert-sounding talk, beyond their core competence. They end up with sharp looking tools and nice words that dilute key messages, confuse the brand, and veer off strategy – if one exists at all. Odds are, they’d make the same recommendations for anyone in that sector: templated, been done, same old thinking, writing, and visuals, dressed with a new name and logo.

Clients need to shoulder some of the blame as well

Clients don’t know what they don’t know (none of us do), and are often easily misled by inexperienced or self-serving consultants. They often mistakenly assume that they know their brand (confusing it with what they do and whom they sell to, an identity, or campaign, or the pitch they’ve been making for years), and are at a loss as to why their efforts are not garnering the results they’d hoped. And they fall prey to habits. When asked, “What makes you different?” they’ll deliver pat answers born of honest belief and years of conditioned responses: “We have the best product”, they say. Or, “Our service is second to none.” Sadly, my response to this is, “prove it.”

Service sectors, including insurance, financial, legal, accounting, engineering, architecture, and health/fitness, are some of the most challenged

Businesses in these sectors may well have unique differences, but as much as they try to be different, they frequently become more of the same. These are saturated markets, where brand differentiation is exceedingly difficult. More than just a new logo, new look, new website, social media (although they may well need all of these – or not), real results for these types of businesses require a new way of looking, thinking, and doing. They need a genuine understanding how to identify, build and sustain their brand.

These businesses are investing heavily in their ‘branding’ and marketing efforts. With what results?

Have you noticed, for instance, that almost as quickly as law firms began to become ‘brand focused’, many began having their websites designed to template by a single entity – with a background in providing generic business cards for those same firms – old habits. Take a screen shot of 10 top firms: can you tell them apart at a glance? Do you remember definitively which was which after reading them?

How about a large financial services company specializing in inventory and receivables loans? They closed a unique deal with a well-known brand, and received approval to leverage it. Instead, they safely chose a standard tombstone ad format, losing their opportunity in a glut of competitive, template-style ads – because that’s the way the industry had always done it. Exactly.

And then there’s the fitness model. Glutted, saturated, with new gyms, trainers, and facilities popping up and others closing at a consistently alarming rate. People fall for the same old spiel, the gyms and trainers make money – particularly in January and the start of bathing suit season, but sustainable? Differentiated? Forget about it. Well, almost. It’s hard to beat a sports marketing education out of an owner, but it can be done. Trust, an ear for education, and a willingness to try something truly different has branded one client for long-term success.

Time to throw a spotlight on ‘been done’ branding/marketing. It’s been done for far too long.

False starts are common in the world of sports. You know, when competitors are so anxious to get to the finish line that they jump the gun and set out before getting the signal that they’re good to go. When they do, the race has to be re-started all over again. More than once, and they often find themselves out of the race altogether.

False starts are even more common in everyday life – for much the same reason. They happen in small ways, like forgetting our phones, keys and documents as we rush out the door. They happen all the time with fitness goals (especially this time of year). They happen with jobs and careers – sometimes it takes several to land in our ‘happy place’. They happen with companies trying to launch or expand too soon often resulting in spectacular brand and financial disasters. And they happen when brands, and people, lose sight of who they really are.

False starts have the same motivators…

No matter how large, small, or frequent our false starts; whether they’re personal or business; they come from the same starting points. We rush. We become so focused on the finish line that we often don’t think things through or research enough, are blinded or boggled by the hype of what everyone else is doing and fear of being left behind or found wanting. We ignore or underestimate risks. We overestimate our skills, resources and abilities. We focus on the future and take our eye off the present.

…and the same effects.

Business or personal, false starts have pretty much the same effects as well. Stress and frustration increases, Productivity decreases, finances often stall or take a beating, and motivation suffers. We’re back at square one with our day, our career, our growth plans, and our dreams. Or are we?

False starts v. failure.

Failure is one of those words that should be eradicated from the dictionary. It’s negative. It’s defeating. It’s final… the whole concept is just wrong.

False starts, on the other hand, should be opportunities – steps on the learning curve of life and business. We can choose to see them as self-defeating, or as growing pains that help us learn more about ourselves, what we want and don’t want, and what works for us – or not. Trial and error is the stuff progress is made of – it keeps us true to our brands, and to ourselves.

Find the finish line.

Even when you learn from them, too many false starts can be defeating. Whether you’re trying to lose a few inches, keep up with your kids, colleagues or competition, running your first marathon, or launching a new product, service or business, my advice is this:

• Learn from your experiences
• Look for the positive
• Do your research – find the people that know their stuff, care about what you care
about, and care about you
• Filter the hype
• Take the time to do it right and sustain what you achieve
• Realize that faster isn’t always better

And trust that, with the right help, you’ll cross the finish line – ready to tackle the next challenge.
Want help turning false starts into forging ahead? Let’s talk.

“We’ve been through two marketing companies now with no results. What are we doing wrong?”

This question in a recent post in an online networking community caught my eye. An established consulting business was expressing their frustration with the non-results they were getting from the marketing professionals they hired.

helloFUTURE LLC, according to their online profile, “helps you create innovative new products, services, and patents via our foresight, innovation and patent development programs, supported by solid technology and project management.” That’s a mouthful. Per their new website, their business would appear to be entirely workshop-based. It’s what they say they do anyway. Some very large clients are on their roster, but based on these, it’s not at all immediately clear what they do.
Based on a comment from the author, it would also seem that he’s not that clear about his brand either. As he says, “ There are others in our space, I can’t understand why we’re getting so little traction in our business. We are a unique product in a unique space.” That’s confusing. Is it a product or a service? Is it a unique product in a unique space, or not?
The company tried two completely different approaches: first, a firm that “supposedly” used AI to create lists of people interested in buying their service offering. It “campaigned over 12,000 people” (whatever that means), and achieved only 20 calls and no business. They then hired a “full service” marketing company that “redid” their communication tools – ads, website and created content marketing. It achieved three leads and no results.

I have to say that, sadly, I’ve heard this story (or something like it) many times over the years we’ve been in business. It speaks both to poor understanding and poor advice. First, a client that has a limited understanding of their brand, its audience and its place in the market, and who is happy to throw the baby out with the bathwater because their stab in the dark didn’t give them the results they hoped for, when they should have been getting down to basics. And secondly, casting a net and hiring consulting firms that promise big, charge big, and pitch their approaches as the answers to all the client’s problems – be it the latest trend or “full service”. Neither would seem to have done the research to fully grasp the associated brand issues, or educated the client before overhauling websites, or developing new campaigns, creative and content. Simply covering all media does not constitute full service in my mind. And I think it would be a safe bet to suggest that they never delivered a brand analysis and strategy.
This company’s problems could have resulted from any number or combination of factors Content, tone, messaging, visuals, PR, media placement and timing, SEO, reputation, markets, influencers, targeting, approach, competition and corporate culture are just a few of the things that could have contributed to non-results. And there was obviously a disconnect when it came to expectations and deliverables – communication breakdown on both sides. The reality is, most all of it would come back to rethinking the brand and the business, and then developing clear, sustainable, brand-driven communication tools.

What does that mean? Well to start with, a full review and analysis of his business, category and competitors. It needs to determine whether they are truly differentiating from competitors and where the gaps/opportunities are in the market – a swot analysis. A deep dive into what they and competitors are doing and saying, and whether those are the same thing at all in the minds of your audiences.

It means an inside look and training as well – the way he and his team talk about and sell the product/service. Interviews with staff and key stakeholders to elicit key insights. And, on brand clarity, training for buy-in and consistency.
Businesses need a solid brand that makes sense and is sustainable, strategies for implementation, and the right tools for the job, used properly at the right time, in the right places. It’s rarely a smart idea to ‘start over’ completely with an established company. If a rebrand or refresh is required, it needs to be carefully developed and managed, and key messages developed to support the brand – before ever venturing into new communication tools.

With new clients, we often see so much time and money wasted in the ‘throw it all away and start over’ approach. Or conversely, the band-aid approach. Mostly, in our experience, non-results are the result of starting in the wrong place to begin with.

One of the things I like most about helping clients to truly understand and engage with their brands is reaching down together for their story.

That conversation often initially elicits what effectively sounds like a resume: “I spent so many years at this company or that company, gained a lot of experience, bought or sold, and here we are.” Or, “we made this product and, as the market changed, it led to that.” These may well be how the business came to be in its current form, but it’s not the story anyone cares to hear.

Obviously, you have to have a great product or service. It obviously has to meet all the touchpoints of traditional marketing, and have a sound business plan. Ideally, you have a truly unique product that can be proven as such – but that’s rare. So the problem comes when those traditional pitches, and pat, unproven differences are used to define your brand, when really, the story is everything.

Everyone loves a good story. We root for the protagonist. We laugh and cry and groan and nod and shake our heads at their trials and successes. We can’t help but get caught up in the twists and turns. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. And it always leaves you wanting more. It resonates because we relate to it. We recognize in it something of ourselves – our own histories or problems or frustrations or passions.

One of my favourite client stories came from a startup, Thrive Fit, and I use it, and the photo here, in my branding workshops. The owner had a long history and education in personal training – a glutted market in which, like so many sectors, nothing is really different – and was about to start a new business. He was looking at all the traditional sorts of names, his mind was entrenched in the traditional fitness marketing and models, but he wanted to listen. He quickly realized that he couldn’t appeal to everyone, and nor did he want to. There were better ways to build and sustain a business.

Turns out that Brian had the drive and the spark of entrepreneurialism in him from the time he was a kid, when he built up a little business trading in Crazy Bones until he had enough for the Nintendo he wanted, and helped others earn as well. As a teen, he resold pop from his locker. Both businesses saw a need, were driven by purpose and had an end goal is sight. He was always meant to be doing his own thing, his own way. And Francis? His need to help people went back to dreams of being Superman when he was a kid.

Long story short, we embarked on a journey that began with the story, and built a completely new business model for that sector that’s, well, thriving. For us, the same approach has worked for SMEs and multinationals. It gets to the heart.

In branding, the art lies not only in the ability to reach down for that story, but in distilling from it the key messages that are the essence of your brand. And then telling that story – in many forms – in a clear, consistent, and engaging way that makes each of your audiences want to sit up and listen. It tells it across multiple media and communication tools taking those strengths into account. It tells it to different audiences in different ways that resonate with them. It tells it verbally, visually and experientially. But it always tells it truthfully.

Of course, just as we don’t all love the same stories, we don’t all love the same brands. We want to engage with those brands that resonate with us, and care about what we care about – genuinely. Businesses that understand themselves and why they make/sell/produce/love what they do. That believe in it wholeheartedly. That hire and partner with others who believe in it, and that live up to their promises.

I’m often told that I should be a mentor (I am), or a life coach, or teacher. A branding specialist is, and should be, all of those things. The common denominator is trust, client-focus, and the ability to draw out a client’s deeper story – where the spark began, developed and glowed brighter, even if undefined. Within that story is the thread that’s key to the authenticity of your brand.

My parents always taught me to value my relationships, to treat others as I would like to be treated, and to never burn my bridges – that great big world is actually pretty small when you get working in it for awhile.

I’ve been blessed by the results of that sound advice with close bonds with my kids and parents, incredible friendships and truly great clients – some of whom have remained with Ink Tank for more than 25 years – and many who, over a short or long time, have become friends as well. My parents’ advice is both a lesson for life and a lesson for business. It applies to both the clients and suppliers I choose to work with, and also to the advice I give my clients to help them think differently about their businesses and understand how to authentically present their brands.

In our approaches to our friends and family we are (hopefully) transparent, genuine and have their best interests at heart. Our good intentions and integrity are obvious, and they respond in kind. It seems to me to be simple logic that we treat our clients and staff in the same way to achieve similar outcomes.

Yet sadly it’s often not the case. We’re approached by clients because they’re feeling ‘stuck’. They may be losing market share, not growing as they think they should, or not getting the responses they expect. They blame it on the market, on the digital age, on rising competition, on fickle customers, on staff not doing their jobs, or on design that’s bad, ineffective or not ‘creative’ enough. As a result, they might wish to throw their entire ‘brand’ out the window and start over. Many designers, marketers and so-called branding experts will jump all over this as an opportunity for large billings and a chance to put their own stamp on the client. It’s usually a bad idea – more focused on the supplier’s than the client’s best interests.

All of this tells me that they don’t really understand what branding is to begin with. They don’t understand their own brand and certainly don’t understand the relationship their brand has with the marketplace. They’ve thrown the basic tenets of a good relationship out the window – not necessarily deliberately – but by trying to be someone they’re not, talking versus listening, and often in the wrong relationships to begin with.

Everyone wants to feel valued. They want to know that you care about what they care about, and care about them – genuinely. That communication is a two-way street. That you’re confident in who you are and don’t try to be something you’re not. That you listen as well as talk. No one wants to be around people (or businesses) that are all about themselves or that do things to appear caring, but in fact are not. They want the real deal.

While this seems simple, many companies are too close to what they do to see it and themselves clearly. For well-established firms, they’re often stuck in old ways of seeing themselves. In the case of start-ups, they may be carried away by their great idea, or be too money-conscious to get the proper help. In both cases they tend to completely misunderstand what branding is. They underestimate the need for, time involved and cost of researching, defining and positioning their company, product or service, building their brand and creating the right communications strategy. Same goes for developing the name and corporate identity that has available domains, avoids language faux pas and is unique enough to meet the requirements of a trademark. And finally, to effectively target their marketing so they can attract the right relationships in the first place, then sell them and maintain them in the second.

There’s an old adage that often comes up in some form or another: “If you build it, they will come.” The fact is, the notion is only true in this competitive, highly communicative economy if that truly applies to your relationships, not just to what you’re selling.

Ink Tank® is a full service boutique agency located in Toronto. We offer a wide range of business building communication services from strategy to concept to execution to production to evaluation, senior level only participation and highly competitive rates. We work in all on and off line media, and pride ourselves on being able to hit the ground running, and getting it right the first time.

I never cease to be amazed by the number of otherwise sophisticated businesses that confuse communication tools with brand, brand with marketing, and sales with both. I’ve railed about it for years, but at a recent event linking international interests, the issue once again smacked me upside the head.

It began with the organizer and key speaker, clearly admitting he knew little about branding, and expounding on the advice of a well-known business incubator, “Make sure you have a sell sheet” – sales-driven advice that is grossly misplaced for more businesses than not. This also speaks to a problem with many incubators: that of assigning a single mentor instead of mentors from multiple disciplines. And few of them starting with brand, or bringing it in at the early stages, if such a mentor even exists in their environment.

Another example that evening, and one that I most frequently run across, occurred during a discussion with a thriving niche-marketed consultancy. The principal noted they had just completed a ‘rebrand’ and was very proud of it. The result was a clunky logo evolution, no defining tagline (the company name and logo give no indication as to what it does), and surprise, a sell sheet. It was not a rebrand, but a redesign. Big difference.

Let’s be clear – communication tools exist to do specific jobs in specific situations directed at specific audiences. Marketing is about identifying those audiences and which tools to use where, when, and how often. Brand determines the key messages and overarching positioning that drives both. And sales are about using all of that to reach out and close the deal.

So why is it that so many businesses let sales drive marketing or think they’ve rebranded because they’ve redone their communication tools or logo? A lack of knowledge and the result of some very convincing people who don’t know the differences either.

Branding is more than they teach you in business school. The research is different. The results are different. The understanding is different. Defining it means determining who you are, who your customers/client/influencers are, what promise you can make to them and sustain, and being honest about it. It needs to be authentic: to your product, your service, your philosophies and your business culture. It requires the right kind of research to help you truly understand who you are and how you differentiate – not “we have the best product”, or “our service is better”, or other vague un-provable claims. And it requires someone who understands that and how to do it to develop a clear brand strategy and tools that effectively communicate your brand to the audiences that matter to you – in a way that matters to them.

Once your brand is defined, you need a strategy to apply it to your marketing and communication tools. When you do, developing both effectively is a lot easier. And every tool serves a purpose – know what it is, and why, when and how to use it. That requires a strategy. Actually, several strategies.

For a new business, product or service, brand should come before choosing a name (and identifying language faux pas). Your logo, tagline and corporate identity come after. They’re important tools in communicating and reinforcing your brand promise, and they need to be unique enough to be able to be trademarked – a costly and unfortunate discovery down the road for many businesses. It’s important to realize that a logo is not a brand; it’s the cherry on top of the sundae – high profile, highly visible and important, but nothing without the supportive brand structure holding it up.

So if not a sell sheet(although it may possibly be one of them), what tools do you actually need beyond that? A website for sure. It needs to be responsive to all devices, have brand-driven content that is also SEO-centric, and reflect the reason it’s there to begin with. Is its job primarily to drive sales leads, or to inform? Back to the need for a strategy again. You’ll likely require some combination of online and offline advertising, collateral materials (brochures, posters, labels, point of sale, etc.), packaging, displays, event materials and the like. Plus content communications ranging from blogs, social and business media posts, white papers and articles to reinforce the key messages of your brand. Another mistake businesses make is jumping into social media without a plan, without proper management and without understanding that every silo requires its own strategy.

Too many start-ups and growing businesses make the mistake of either developing their brand in-house, or allowing designers, content providers, or web developers to ‘create’ their brand. The result may be moderately successful in sales, but with no or minimal strategy and research behind it, the business, and the brand, will get stuck. And undoing what’s been done is an awful lot more expensive and difficult than defining your genuine brand to begin with, and managing it going forward as markets, trends and conditions inevitably change.

Understanding the differences and hiring an expert will define your brand, build it and sustain it. Getting it right to begin with will cost you less and take you further.

It seems that ever since digital marketing became a force in the universe, marketers who work in that realm have worked hard at redefining branding to suit their vested interests.

Many of these marketers have little experience in traditional branding and are reflective (in my opinion) of a pendulum swung disproportionately in one direction. A plethora of ‘online marketing experts’ are trying (and succeeding) in convincing businesses to invest significant time, money and intellectual capital in a broad capture that sweeps up just about anyone passing through, then justify the cost with their ‘engagement’ numbers.

The true meaning and power of branding has been lost in the chase. And, unless your content is developed by a someone who truly understands your brand, your brand and marketing strategies, and who can also write well, engage and resonate with your specific audiences (and know the differences), and understand which combination of communication tools are right for you business and how to effectively use them, you could very well waste your money, dilute your hard-earned efforts, and end up with a ‘hollow’ brand – one with little substance to support it – or a brand that does not reflect your business.

There’s obviously a place for engagement and content-based marketing – it’s a necessary part of the marketing mix. But it’s just that – a part – one of many tools in the communications toolbox, each with a specific job and a supporting role. (It goes along with the misguided thinking that a logo, a website and a brochure is branding versus an identity and communication tools – but that’s for another conversation). Placing the bulk of your marketing budget in a single ill-defined tool is not going to build and sustain your brand.

And it’s frequently not the most effective tool. Content writers are the puppy mills of the marketing world. They often know little about brand strategy, differentiation, or the competitive sphere of the client. In trying to maximize engagement with a broad reach, businesses are often not actually engaging in an authentic and sustainable way directly with either the audiences who purchase or influence the purchase of their products and services. The fact is, their results are not what they’re made out to be and the lead-time to achieve any ROI of value is long, arduous and hard to gain back.

Sales, marketing and branding are intrinsically entwined. Too often, however, businesses make the mistake of confusing the flow. Many companies, particularly B2B, get caught up in sales driving marketing, or confusing the two, and brand is misunderstood and thus overlooked. Many of them feel that sales got them where they are and so, “Why change?” Others, particularly start-ups and growing businesses opt to have marketing drive their brand. Such is the case with digital content. Brand needs to drive marketing, which in turn will drive sales. And ensuring that your brand isn’t lost in all of that requires ongoing central management. Without it, designers, content people, web developers, PR folks and everyone else – none of whom really understand brand – put their own stamp and spin on what they’re doing, or regurgitate the same information, and you’re left wondering how you could have invested so much for so little.

Branding is tricky business. It requires experience and expertise to define, build and manage. It needs substance and focus, and more than just a single communications tool. And the bottom line is that branding is all about your interests and those you care about. Redefining it to suit a business model only helps many digital marketers to help themselves.

It takes time to change an audience’s mindset about your brand. But the biggest hurdle is changing your own.

I’ve always had the greatest respect – and awe – for brands that can take an everyday product we all take for granted, and turn it on its ear.

Tesla is one of the first that comes to mind. And Dyson – they made vacuums and fans some of the sexiest products on the market and created a whole new category.

Sonnet has caught my attention of late as well. Their brand is completely fresh, innovative and completely unique in the tired insurance sector.

It’s every brander’s dream to get the opportunity to brand or rebrand a product we can flip 180 degrees to change people’s perceptions about a common item. And while we can’t lay claim to any of the aforementioned all-stars, we were given that opportunity recently.

Breaking Through the Commodity Barrier

Let’s face it. Commercial air filters are not something people are going to get too excited about. All buildings have them. They all need to change them regularly. And a filter is a filter, right?

Wrong. And therein lies a big part of the problem. When even the client is convinced their product is a commodity, or can only be viewed in a certain way, they end up stuck in a way of thinking that’s counterproductive to success.

And trying to compete in exactly the same way as everyone else with a product that’s seen as a commodity, and sold as a commodity, is not going to get you anywhere. You end up in a price war with no brand loyalty and a business model that can’t get to where it needs to go.

The 180 Degree View: People Care More About Health Than the Environment When It Comes to ROI.

It took some convincing, but we got our commercial air filter folks to finally realize that. While they’re the only 100% recyclable commercial air filter out there – a unique selling position – the sad news is that businesses and buildings pay lip service to the environment when it comes to their bottom line.

What they do take seriously though is the cost of employees’, tenants’ and users’ health. According to the World Green Council Report, 90% of the cost of any business is its people. And people spend 90% of their time in buildings. The EPA advised that the air quality (IAQ) in those buildings has often been measured to find even more pollutants than outside where soot, smog, dirt, gases, spores, mould and particulates – you name it – abound.

When you add that to a couple of other credible statistics: that 50% of all illnesses are caused or aggravated by poor indoor air quality (The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology) and that Gallup-Healthways, the Conference Board of Canada and others point to $Billions in absenteeism and lost productivity, the issue is worthy of some serious attention – and maybe some pressure brought to bear on property managers and building owners to stop nickel and diming on the air filters in their buildings.

So suddenly a $5 commercial air filter is no longer a commodity – or a dollar or so shouldn’t make it such. Human resource departments: take note!

For our client it was an ‘AHA’ moment – a new way to think. A new way to sell. A new value proposition that makes dollars and sense. And a model for growth.

Commodity-based items are not the only brands stuck in the ‘We’ve always done it this way and so has our industry’ mentality. Manufacturing and professional services share some of the biggest ‘why change?’ mindsets.

Dare to differentiate I say. Go get ‘em Delta M. We’re delighted you trusted us to help you change the world.

Despite two hours sleep last night, I was happy to greet a sold out crowd of entrepreneurs at HumberLaunch this morning who were hungry to learn more about branding their business. @humberlaunch
Attendees came from a cross section of businesses at various stages in their development. I spoke with an interior designer, a team builder (a shining symbol of one of the examples used in my presentation), a retailer, and a food manufacturer to name a few. Inspiration abounds! And so does the typical confusion about brand and its place in the business and marketing mix.
Everyone seemed engaged, and I hope they were. The comments thus far have been positive, although I was misquoted on a couple of very important points – easily corrected. Q&A lasted well beyond the allotted time. The line up afterward was lengthy and I ran out of cards, so it would seem to be a success.
And for me, it was. If I can bring brand to the forefront for these entrepreneurs, it will save them time, money, frustration and discouragement and help them to build an enduring brand that resonates with everyone.

There are some conspiracy buffs who hypothesize that the new Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) has an underlying purpose. Normally we would not give any credence to conspiracy theories, but in this instance it makes sense.

The theory is that while on the surface, CASL purports to be aimed at cleaning up mass emails that clutter up everyone’s inbox, it’s a subtle attempt to move business back into something we’ve always known as direct marketing.

In the days before emails and SPAM, direct marketing (as opposed to unaddressed direct mail) was considered to be one of the more effective means of both business to consumer and business to business communications. Imagine a package addressed to a real person being placed right on their desk or in their home mail box.

The creativity that powered these pieces was, in many cases, both innovative and alluring. The depth of sale that these pieces where capable of generating was prodigious to say the least. The recipient was told a whole story. Not just a tantalizing lead in with all the added effort of clicking a read more or clicking through to a landing page or download.

When well done, it was beautiful. It was elegant. And considering the response that could be generated from a well designed and well written direct mail piece, it was an excellent value from a cost perspective as well.

The SPAM Revolution

As email marketing took hold, and the SPAM revolution began, digital marketers did quite a job in convincing advertisers that this was the new way to go. While it saved clients a considerable amount of printing and postage, it permanently altered the advertising/marketing landscape, putting printers, list brokers and fulfillment houses, not to mention Canada Post in a great deal of financial pain.

The adverse effect this had on many sectors of Canadian Business, coupled with the incredible onslaught of unwanted emails from an email marketing industry that was still trying to develop into something measurable, were, as the conspiracy purports, the principle ingredients in the decision to launch an all encompassing anti-spam legislation.

Conspiracy theory or not, effective July 1, 2014 Canadian business has been propelled back in time to the ‘pre-email’ environment. If you think hard for a moment or two about the risks of being reported for non-compliant mass emailing – by a disenamoured client, disgruntled employee or disreputable competitor – all of a sudden, tools with measurable results quotients start to look very appealing.

This Is Where We Come In.

People who create digital communications, by and large, have little experience with, nor any in-depth knowledge of how to put a great direct mail program together.

At Ink Tank, our experience in the area of direct mail is both deep and broad. We are experienced strategists and award-winning creative thinkers and doers in all media, both on and off line. But our grounding and the media we have the most experience in is in direct marketing, advertising and corporate communications, of which direct mail has always played an important part.

Email databases in every sector of Canadian business have been decimated by CASL. They will be rebuilt again, but no one knows how long that will really take. In the interim, tools like direct mail and conventional media advertising are quickly taking on a renewed importance.

And companies like ours are suddenly finding that our depth of experience in offline media is experiencing a re-birth of interest. Our online experience is just icing on the cake.

If your company is currently grappling with the issues of marketing outside the mass email realm, we should talk. Our expertise in the direct marketing area will help you keep your business alive and kicking through this crisis and far beyond.